


Shot in the Dark

by Coraleeveritas



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Noir, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-24
Updated: 2019-04-02
Packaged: 2019-04-27 10:10:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14423163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Coraleeveritas/pseuds/Coraleeveritas
Summary: Brienne Tarth, PI, of Evenstar Enterprises was not yet accustomed to being abruptly awoken all all hours by incessant knocking on her front door.





	1. Nothing Good Happens After 2am

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my attempt at writing some noir. Hopefully it hits all the right points. 
> 
> All mistakes are mine and anything you recognise doesn't belong to me. The chapter title is from How I Met Your Mother.

Brienne Tarth, PI, of Evenstar Enterprises was not yet accustomed to being abruptly awoken all all hours by incessant knocking on her front door. It was to become an unfortunate side effect of leaping into the family business out of necessity after her father had died, as was the loaded '45 she kept between an emergency bottle of gin and several handkerchiefs in her desk drawer, but caught in a moment of exasperation she could do little more than mutter an unladylike curse as she reached for a heavy set of keys.

Though it had been replaced many times over the years, the office opening times were still printed in clear, bold text on the frosted glass welcoming clientele into the promise of a brighter future, but a closed door had never stopped the city's most desperate and downtrodden from calling on the Evenstar in their hour of need. And being that Brienne was in possession of two attributes, youth and womanhood, that kept the majority of tawdry high society work away, she had resolved to help each outcast, each runaway, each unwanted soul who found themselves needing her expertise the best she could.

The man currently standing outside certainly didn't look like he'd been overlooked by any part of the community that had enjoyed shunning her very existence. Movie star handsome despite the deceiving distortion of thick glass, and not short of a few pennies to rub together judging by the cut of his suit, it was the copper tinged stains splattered across the front of his otherwise pristine white shirt that had Brienne throwing open the door in record time.

His green eyes wild with fear and panic, the words that fell from his panting mouth had to be repeated twice before his disarray made sense. "They shot my cousin. I don't...I don't think he's..."

"It's alright, at least you got him here," she placated, though they both knew there was nothing right about what he was telling her. "Where is your cousin now?"

"I-I had to leave him by the elevators."

There was always a chance that any unsolicited midnight visitors could be part of a fraudsters trick, but as Brienne had seen almost every scam in the book over the last few years and the trembling man in front of her was either the greatest undiscovered actor of a generation or genuinely terrified for the life of his cousin. The choice was always clear in her line of work; trust her gut or risk living in fear and guilt.

Brienne swallowed the jangle of nerves that had started to tickle at her throat. "Take me to him."


	2. Night Nurse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Something I've had in my drafts for a while but I've tidied up a bit today. Apologies for any mistakes, blame the painkillers I'm taking for my back.

He introduced himself as Daven Lannister as they rushed down the hallway, explaining that he and his cousin had been celebrating his impending nuptials at a local casino when they had been accused of cheating. Brienne did everything she could not to roll her eyes, her father's associates still referred to her endeavours as being 'blessed by naivety' but even she wouldn't have wandered into a gambling establishment in fancy suits flashing handfuls of cash without expecting some kind of recompense. She had to wonder if the Lannister family were the type to favour money over sense though they certainly wouldn't be the first to underestimate the city and end up at her door. She'd never questioned any of their intentions and she wasn't about to start now just because of the better quality clothes on his back.

The man Daven had left leaning up against the elevator doors was possibly the most handsome, best dressed, nonsensically out of place creature to ever limp into her life. He was well built, as if he hadn't been forced into a tuxedo for the entirety of his adult life, golden blond and green eyed like his cousin though his features were stronger, sharper and closer to those of a matinee idol than the average Evenstar client. Brienne could feel her cheeks burning as he spent a little too long studying her frame as Daven wrapped an arm around his broad shoulders and hoisted him off the wall.

"Cousin!" the blond drawled dramatically, "I was beginning to wonder if you were ever coming back."

"Come on, Jaime," Daven scoffed. "Uncle Tywin would never let me live it down if you came home with even a hair out of place."

"I hope you've got a plan to explain this, then," he replied jovially, wincing as he turned to address Brienne. "You don't have to stay, thanks, we're waiting on the Evenstar."

"I am the-," she started, jumping forward as the older Lannister began to tilt dangerously away from his cousin, just about managing to catch him before he hit the floor.

"I think we need to get you inside, Mr Lannister."

"If you say so," he blinked, cocking his head as she pushed aside all her embarrassment and threw his right arm around her shoulder as Daven took up a similar position on his left side. "Who are you again?"

"I'm the Evenstar."

"Are you _sure_?"

She sighed. "Let's get you inside."

************

Put him on the table, please."

Daven took a quick glance around the office cum apartment and his unsteady smile disappeared completely. "I hate to echo Jaime, but are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"I've seen more than my fair share of blood," Brienne snapped back as politely as she could while disbelief tickled uncomfortably at the back of her mind. These men were fish out of water in a place like the south side and she was still waiting for a reason to make itself known. "Is there a reason why you didn't you go straight to a hospital?"

The younger man blinked at the question, as if she'd startled him out of catatonic silence, the hat in his lap clutched tightly between his nervously twitching hands. "Jaime wanted to come here, kept mentioning something about finding an Evenstar, that an Evenstar would know what to do. I didn't expect to a find a dame, sorry, a woman, running the show."

"You're a woman?" croaked the other blond, Jaime, from her kitchen table, again trying to throw her off guard while she was doing her damnedest to patch him up. The slash across his bicep looked superficial though a couple of stitches wouldn't hurt but the hole in his thigh was deep enough that she was surprised he wasn't showing signs of being in more pain. Shock could account for a lot of things, though she had never before met a wounded man who almost seemed compelled to keep needling at her nerves.

"What happened to the old guy?"

"You mean my father? He died."

Daven, at least, had the good grace to look chastised but Jaime ploughed on oblivious to the pain behind her blunt delivery, barely pausing for the breath it must have hurt to take. "And you're running this place on your own?"

"I don't know how that's any of your business," she replied coolly, sinking her kitchen scissors into the expensive wool blend of his ruined trousers, asking him to undress further feeling far closer to intimate than professional. She'd have to find him some clothes in the morning, if she was able to stabilise his injuries and successfully nurse him through the night.

"What?" he looked at his cousin and back to her, his green eyes widening in a mockery of innocence. "I meant it as a compliment. Your father's reputation, your reputation for however long you've been here alone, proceeds you. He must have trusted-"

"Six months. I've been back longer but s-since Christmas it's just been me."

Jaime blinked, his tone turning somber. "From Europe?"

She nodded. "There's not much I can't do with a Swiss Army knife and some bailer twine."

Like so many others who felt an urge to do what they could when the world around them was going to hell, the documents that took her to the front had been forged, the change of birth date coming from such a place of selflessness integrity that Brienne almost believed the ends justified the lying means. There wasn't the money to bribe an official to overlook the medical exam, and with no desire to make her father bury her beside her brother, she signed up as the tallest, ugliest, strongest nurse in the regiment.

She'd had no skill with a needle on arrival but the sisters opened her eyes to how a few stitches could save a life, how cleaning and stemming the blood loss from a bullet wound could keep a man responsive enough to get to surgery, how listening, careful monitoring and family support could speed up recovery times. And while any medical school worth the cost of applying would likely laugh her out of the building, Brienne was under no illusions that the knowledge she gained on the battlefield was turning out to be just as useful back home. A dark shadow had been cast across the city while she'd been serving her county and there didn't appear to be any easy way of opening that curtain again though she was determined to do all she could.

"I was there," he started, hissing as she liberally cleaned out both of his wounds with the high proof alcohol. "For a couple of years. France mainly."

"You should have gone to a hospital tonight," she replied, not wanting to get into another drawn out discussion about the 'good old days' though the scars covering his right forearm and left knee said all there needed to be said about the brutality of his tour of duty. Brienne would wager he'd been shot at least once before.

"Why? You're doing an adequate job all by yourself, doll."

"You might want to drink some of this," she said, offering him the half full bottle before she stuck her needle into his arm. "And you," she nodded to Daven, "might want to get some coffee and go sit in the office. This isn't going to be pretty."

Jaime smiled, seemingly unfazed by his bloodied, half dressed state. "I can take whatever you want to throw at me, sweetheart."

Of that she had no doubt but he still screamed when she had to dig the bullet out.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I'm hoping there'll be more, I've got at least another chapter drafted.


End file.
